His political bloc, which grouped Dawa and other smaller parties into
the State of Law coalition, faced a strong challenge from the
Sunni-backed but largely secular Iraqiya bloc in 2010 elections.

LIE!

In 2009, Dawa was pissed because Nouri announced he wouldn't be running with them in the upcoming elections. Instead, he created his own State of Law coalition.

Yes, some of Dawa would join but not all.

You even had, after the elections, some high ranking Dawa officials publicly calling Nouri out.

Although Iraqiya won two more seats, al-Maliki stayed in power by a
court ruling that the largest bloc of parties cobbled together - not the
largest single party - had the mandate to form a government.

Shut the f**k up, you lying sack of s**t.

Nouri stayed in power via The Erbil Agreement -- a contract the US government brokered in November 2010. The verdict Adam's humping was made public (after the fact) months ahead of that.

Adam, you got a big old floppy back there, right? Your asshole's like a big old floppy disc and anything will slide in, right?

Al-Maliki oversaw efforts - too slow for many - to rebuild Iraq and normalise its relations with the outside world.

Rebuild Iraq and normalize its relations?

Its relations with Turkey?

Oops. No, Nouri was always publicly attacking them. Well Jordan's a neighbor and -- Oops, Nouri antagonized them as well. The UAE or Saudi Arabia? Nouri called them terrorists, accused them of plotting to overthrow Iraq.

Exactly what countries did Nouri get along with?

He and Bush talked frequently, but they failed to secure terms to allow a continued US military presence in Iraq beyond 2011.

Oh, My. God.

That lie is so huge, I'm taking it to Third and we can do a liar of the week piece.

That lie is huge.

Poor Adam, cursed with a tiny dick but able to tell huge whoppers.

We'll take it on at Third. Speaking of Third, be sure you caught all of last week's content:

Friday, August 15, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, possibilities as
to why Nouri is steeping down, some look to the prime minister-designate
for hope, and much more.

Yesterday's big news that Iraq's two-term prime minister and forever
thug Nouri al-Maliki had agreed to step down continues to be news. Al Mada notes
statements of relief made by US Secretary of State John Kerry, National
Security Advisor Susan Rice and the UN Secretary-General's Special
Envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov. Andrew Reiter (US News and World Reports) offers:

This is an unquestionably positive development for Iraq. First, the
peaceful transfer of power represents a key step in Iraq’s young
democracy. Second, the new government should be better equipped to deal
with the worsening security threat posed by Islamic State militants. And
third, it could usher in a period of improved relations with the U.S. A peaceful transfer of power is a welcome development for Iraq’s
nascent democracy that has seen al-Malaki consolidate his rule over his
eight years in office. Following the controversial 2010 parliamentary
elections, al-Malaki created the Office of the Commander-in-Chief,
giving himself direct control over the Iraqi army and police. In
response to recent events, he deployed a number of elite security forces
throughout Baghdad’s Green Zone in an overt threat to his opponents.
Fears of a military coup were rampant.

Loveday Morris and Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) point out, "Maliki has become a deeply divisive figure but had clung to his position
in the face of a growing consensus among Iraq’s politicians and the
international community that only a new leader would have a chance of
unifying a country experiencing growing sectarian divisions." How bad did it get for Nouri? Martin Chulov, Julian Borger and Spencer Ackerman (Guardian) explain, "He had lost the support of his party, of the president, the parliament,
the Americans, Saudis and finally the Iranian government, his biggest
foreign ally and sponsor. Even the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei,
issued a statement pointedly welcoming the appointment of Abadi."

An Iraqi source close to Ayatollah
Ali Sistani told Al-Monitor: “Around 10 days before the designation, an
envoy representing the Iranian leadership visited Ayatollah Ali Sistani
in Najaf. The envoy heard a clear stance from Sistani: Nouri al-Maliki
shouldn’t continue as a prime minister. …​ Sistani won’t say this in
public, but he had to tell it to the Iranians, because he thought the
crisis in the country needed a solution and that the deadlock would
complicate efforts to reach an agreement.”According to Al-Monitor’s sources in Tehran and Baghdad, Iranian
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after learning of Sistani’s
position, asked his aides to facilitate the change, calling on them to
play a role in convincing Maliki to withdraw. “There were several
alternatives for Maliki, one was him being appointed vice president. He
refused. He was obstinate on the prime minister position and gave all
those who tried [to talk] with him reasons for him not to accept. His
main challenge was that he’s the leader of the bloc that won the
election, and the constitution gives him the right to form the new
government.”

REHM: Good to see you all. Jim Sciutto, what finally made Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki agree to step aside? SCIUTTO: I think the loss of the support of the support of both the
U.S. and Iran. And once you had public statements. For the U.S.
statement, somewhat more predictable, but once the Iranians said they
wanted a transition, they wanted a more inclusive government, he saw the
writing on the wall. But it was touch and go, because on Sunday night,
and we were on the air Sunday night, as you had tanks in the streets,
bridges closed in Baghdad. Forces loyal to Maliki being ordered -- you
know, accounts from Baghdad police telling us ordered around key
buildings. It looked like, for a moment, he was gonna make a power grab.
So, you know, it appeared he had some second thoughts towards the end,
but once that support disappeared, even he could see the writing on the
wall. REHM: Nancy. YOUSSEF: So, the reason he gave, in his speech, in which he was
surrounded by members of his party and his successor, was, in part, that
he didn't want to see Iraq return to dictatorship, which arguably was
code for that he didn't think that the militias and the armed forces he
put on the street could actually keep him in power. The only other list
-- person I would add to that list is Sistani, Ayatollah Sistani, who's
the leader of the Shias in Iraq had called and supported his transition.
And so, internally, that was perhaps the most important loss for his
support. And so, once all those factors came in to play, it was
impossible to see who would support him. In addition, I would add also
are the court systems, because the last time he had sort of been
challenged, the courts had supported him, and constitutionally, he
didn't have the ground to stand on to continue his fight. REHM: Greg. MYRE: Just looking back, Maliki came to power in 2006. At that
moment, Iran was facing this Sunni insurgency that was tearing the
country apart. The U.S. felt a real sense of urgency to intervene. Here
we are eight years later going through the same thing. And you can go
back, and the U.S. military involvement has now been over 20 years in
Iraq. And are we moving forward anywhere, or are we just going in
circles?

While various possibilities were tossed around at various outlets, few bothered to examine Iraqi sentiment. Kholoud Ramzi (Niqash) covers Iraqi reaction:

The
desperate attempts of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to stay in
power may have been taken seriously by many and led to questions about
attempted coups and concern as to which sectors of the military
supported him - but there are many Iraqis who are not taking al-Maliki
seriously at all. Sarcastic pictures, jokes and comments have been
circulating on Iraqi social media for the past few days, with those
photo shopping pictures and posting jokes appearing to compete amongst
themselves to make a mockery of their soon-to-be-former Prime Minister.

One
of the most popular pictures shows al-Maliki wearing a Hitler-style
moustache. Another shows US President Barack Obama patting al-Maliki on
the back, as if to bid him farewell. This has garnered a number of
humorous comments.

One
Iraqi Kurdish journalist shared a picture that shows young men
trampling on a picture of al-Maliki that is lying on the floor. “They
started to throw your pictures on the ground as soon as they heard about
al-Abadi,” the journalist wrote in the caption. “They started to throw
shoes at the picture as soon as they knew you were out. I fear that soon
they will beat you with their shoes. We Iraqis are the kind of people
who receive our leaders with cheering and applause and then farewell
them with shoes.”

Another
picture showed two tribal leaders, or sheikhs, sitting behind al-Maliki
at a funeral. “Let us grieve for the soul of [al-Maliki’s] third term,”
those who shared the picture wrote. “The funeral of the State of Law
bloc.”

Another
Iraqi prankster posted a picture of al-Maliki’s wife. “Breaking news,”
they wrote. “Al-Abadi’s wife has called al-Maliki’s wife to ask her
where she put the presidential mugs.”

Those
who supported al-Maliki also came in for ribbing, with politicians who
protested al-Abadi’s nomination or al-Maliki’s ouster also targeted by
jokers.

Another
commenter wrote this: “Al-Maliki ruled us for eight years and he
brought us right back to the era of the Caliphate. If he had had another
four years, we might have seen dinosaurs roaming the streets of
Baghdad”.

Some
other activists wrote on one of al-Maliki’s Facebook pictures that
Iraqis need to thank the Prime Minister for his achievements before he
leaves. They listed 14 of the most important ones. This included
sectarianism, displacement, insecurity, corruption and lack of
government services. “Last but not least we should congratulate him on
the birth of Daash, which came from all of these achievements,” they
wrote, using the Arabic acronym for the Sunni Muslim extremist group
known as the Islamic State, that now controls parts of the country.

Deeply unpopular Nouri. So many have wanted him gone for so long now. And where do things stand now? Shashank Bengali and Patrick J. McDonnell (Los Angeles Times) state, "Maliki’s surprise announcement Thursday that he would give up his bid
for a third four-year term raised hope that a new government could unite
a country that is more bitterly divided than at perhaps any time since
the sectarian civil strife of 2006-07."

So few want to admit that. In part because they whored for Nouri and in
part because they lack the ability to they were wrong to cheer Nouri
on. The man was a tyrant and a despot. He had Iraqis rounded up --
usually Sunnis -- mass 'arrests' that lacked arrest warrants. The
people were then lost in the 'legal' system -- often never tried, not on
trial once, but kept in prisons. Some people were arrested with arrest
warrants -- for other people!

They have an arrest warrent for Ali al-Mutlaq. They go to his family's
home. Ali is not present so they arrest Ali's wife, sister, child or
parent. That's not justice. It is why so many innocents rot in prison
-- accused of no crime but held regardless.

Many of the females in Nouri's prison arrived there as a result of being
a relative of someone. Once in prison, many girls and women were
assaulted or raped. Nouri attempted to ignore this when it became the
topic of fall 2012. An investigation by Parliament found that the
assaults and rapes were taking place -- this would also be backed up by the work of Human Rights Watch:

Iraqi authorities are detaining thousands of Iraqi women illegally and
subjecting many to torture and ill-treatment, including the threat of
sexual abuse. Iraq’s
weak judiciary, plagued by corruption, frequently bases convictions on
coerced confessions, and trial proceedings fall far short of
international standards. Many women were detained for months or even
years without charge before seeing a judge.The 105-page report, “‘No One Is Safe’: Abuses of Women in Iraq’s Criminal Justice System,”documents
abuses of women in detention based on interviews with women and girls,
Sunni and Shia, in prison; their families and lawyers; and medical
service providers in the prisons at a time of escalating violence
involving security forces and armed groups. Human Rights Watch also
reviewed court documents and extensive information received in meetings
with Iraqi authorities including Justice, Interior, Defense, and Human
Rights ministry officials, and two deputy prime ministers.“Iraqi security forces and officials act as if brutally abusing women will make the country safer,” said Joe Stork,
deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “In
fact, these women and their relatives have told us that as long as
security forces abuse people with impunity, we can only expect security
conditions to worsen.”

Iraq risks being torn apart by warring sects unless Haider al-Abadi,
the new prime minister, can gather the country’s estranged factions
behind him and form a government, senior Iraqi politicians said
yesterday.

“This is all or nothing,” said one senior Iraqi official who is hoping
for a senior ministry within the new cabinet. “None of us are sure that
he can do it. And if he can’t, we are doomed.”

But
if anyone has the potential to unite Iraq and hold it together in the
face of ISIS terrorism and Iranian meddling, it is Mr. Abadi. In a
society where name and upbringing count for a lot, he comes from a
respected Baghdad family and was raised in an upscale neighborhood. He
studied at one of the capital’s best high schools, earned a degree from
one of its top universities and later received a doctorate in
engineering in Britain.

While
Mr. Maliki spent his years in exile in Iran and Syria and earned
degrees in Islamic studies and Arabic literature, Mr. Abadi, a fluent
English speaker, worked his own way through his long and costly studies
abroad. In meetings over the past decade, Mr. Abadi always impressed me
and other American diplomats with his self-effacing humor, humility,
willingness to listen and ability to compromise -- extremely rare traits
among Iraq’s political elite, and precisely the characteristics that are
needed to help heal the wounds Iraqis sustained under Hussein and Mr.
Maliki.

“We’ll
give Abadi a real chance if for no other reason than because he’s a
Baghdadi — not a thug from a village like almost everyone else that’s
ruled us since ’58,” a shadowy financier of the Sunni insurgency told me
this week.

"He is very engaging, articulate and direct," Alaadin told the British network.

Abadi was born in Baghdad in 1952, according to his website.

A long-time member of
the Dawa Party -- he is said to have joined as a teenager -- he was one
of thousands of prominent Iraqis who left the country during Saddam
Hussein's rule.

Abadi left to study
abroad after receiving a bachelor's degree in 1975, and stayed away as
Hussein tightened his grip on the country. Two of his brothers were not
so lucky; they were executed in 1982 for belonging to the Dawa Party.
The following year, the regime canceled Abadi's passport.

Of all the challenges, any new Iraqi government will have to face, possibly the most frightening and complex is economic.

The country has seen budget deficits rise by as much as a
third, last year’s budget has not been approved and this year’s budget
has not yet been tabled.

“In 2012 and 2013 Iraq had about US$18billion in its coffers in the Development Fund for Iraq [a fund created to save Iraq’s oil revenues] but this year there’s only about US$5billion, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund,”
says local economist and researcher Mathhar Mohammed Saleh. “This is
very dangerous. But nobody has really paid it much attention because
everyone is busy with political conflicts and security problems.”

The Development Fund is supposed to bridge any budget
deficits – but as the deficit gets bigger and the bridging funds get
smaller, Iraq may well be facing a serious economic problem.

“Additionally the delay in approving the national budget
gave the last government license to spend in an uncontrolled way,” says
Iraqi Kurdish politician, Najiba Najib, who was on the previous
government’s Finance Committee. “We don’t know how or where the
government spent the money but we do know this conflict with the IS
group is draining resources.”

Additionally, since 2010, al-Maliki has continually
rejected any requests to submit annual accounts to Parliament. The
excuse was that government ministries had not sufficiently developed
their accounting departments or that there were technical issues.
However for a long time it has been thought that these excuses were
really just a cover for major corruption.

Iraq has consistently been ranked as one of the most
corrupt states in the world by the international watchdog organization,
Transparency International.

“The new Prime Minister is going to spend his four-year
term searching for solutions to the problems created by al-Maliki,” says
local political analyst, Khalid al-Ani. “Al-Maliki has made a lot of
enemies and created many problems. His successor cannot possibly solve
them all. He needs the cooperation of all political players as well as
international support to find solutions.”

Ayad Allawi was the leader of 2010's winning political slate Iraqiya -- they bested Nouri's State of Law. National Iraqi News Agency reports that he offered a cautionary note today:

Head of the National Coalition Iyad Allawi said on Friday that the Iraq
crisis does not depend on changing faces but by putting Iraq on the
right road associated with a clear program to solve the Iraq crisis,"
pointing out that "Abadi is a part of the political structure that ruled
Iraq, which is from the womb of Dawa party and we are waiting for what
would he do. Allawi expressed his doubts on the ability of the
Abadi to correct the political process, especially as he has come out of
the womb of the Dawa Party, and he is the heir to the unique approach
of political governance and based on indifference with politicians in
Iraq. He stressed "the need to correct the ways of dialogue with
the Kurds, especially because they consider themselves to be part of
Iraq, and recognize its sovereignty, and there should be clear rules and
explicit to deal with the Kurds and the order of the relationship with
them is the most important law (oil and gas).

Friday, August 15, 2014

Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq
and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the
way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a
Sunni Islamist insurgency that threatens Baghdad.

Thursday, August 14, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, Barack talks
Iraq, Nouri's stepping down, we talk about what promise had to be made
for that to happen, and much more.

This afternoon US President Barack Obama delivered a speech from Martha's Vineyard. We'll note the section on Iraq.

First of all, we continue to make progress in carrying out our
targeted military operations in Iraq. Last week, I authorized two
limited missions: protecting our people and facilities inside of Iraq,
and a humanitarian operation to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians
stranded on a mountain.A week ago, we assessed that many thousands of Yezidi men, women and
children had abandoned their possessions to take refuge on Mount Sinjar
in a desperate attempt to avoid slaughter. We also knew that ISIL
terrorists were killing and enslaving Yezidi civilians in their custody,
and laying siege to the mountain. Without food or water, they faced a
terrible choice -- starve on the mountain, or be slaughtered on the
ground. That’s when America came to help.Over the last week, the U.S. military conducted humanitarian air
drops every night –- delivering more than 114,000 meals and 35,000
gallons of fresh water. We were joined in that effort by the United
Kingdom, and other allies pledged support. Our military was able to
successfully strike ISIL targets around the mountain, which improved
conditions for civilians to evacuate the mountain safely.Yesterday, a small team of Americans -– military and civilian -–
completed their review of the conditions on the mountain. They found
that food and water have been reaching those in need, and that thousands
of people have been evacuating safely each and every night. The
civilians who remain continue to leave, aided by Kurdish forces and
Yezidis who are helping to facilitate the safe passage of their
families. So the bottom line is, is that the situation on the mountain
has greatly improved and Americans should be very proud of our efforts.Because of the skill and professionalism of our military –- and the
generosity of our people –- we broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar; we
helped vulnerable people reach safety; and we helped save many innocent
lives. Because of these efforts, we do not expect there to be an
additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain, and it’s
unlikely that we’re going to need to continue humanitarian air drops on
the mountain. The majority of the military personnel who conducted the
assessment will be leaving Iraq in the coming days. And I just want to
say that as Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the men and
women of our military who carried out this humanitarian operation almost
flawlessly. I’m very grateful to them and I know that those who were
trapped on that mountain are extraordinarily grateful as well.Now, the situation remains dire for Iraqis subjected to ISIL’s terror
throughout the country, and this includes minorities like Yezidis and
Iraqi Christians; it also includes Sunnis, Shia and Kurds. We’re going
to be working with our international partners to provide humanitarian
assistance to those who are suffering in northern Iraq wherever we have
capabilities and we can carry out effective missions like the one we
carried out on Mount Sinjar without committing combat troops on the
ground. We obviously feel a great urge to provide some humanitarian relief to
the situation and I’ve been very encouraged by the interest of our
international partners in helping on these kinds of efforts as well. We
will continue air strikes to protect our people and facilities in
Iraq. We have increased the delivery of military assistance to Iraqi
and Kurdish forces fighting ISIL on the front lines.

And, perhaps most importantly, we are urging Iraqis to come together
to turn the tide against ISIL –- above all, by seizing the enormous
opportunity of forming a new, inclusive government under the leadership
of Prime Minister-designate Abadi. I had a chance to speak to Prime
Minister-designate Abadi a few days ago, and he spoke about the need for
the kind of inclusive government -- a government that speaks to all the
people of Iraq -- that is needed right now. He still has a challenging
task in putting a government together, but we are modestly hopeful that
the Iraqi government situation is moving in the right direction.

How smart is Barack?

He's been hailed as a genius.

I don't think he is. I know he was a so-so student -- in a manner that
indicates boredom, not a lack of intelligence. And he has the gift of
timing which has allowed him to seize moments in the past. He now holds
a position that tends to make people believe they are infallible and
fills them with hubris.

He's at a fork in the road.

The smart thing to do is walk out, hail the efforts on behalf of the
Yazidis as a success (and I have no problem with that call) and walk
out.

Humanitarian aid workers warned Thursday that it was too soon to declare
the U.S. mission to aid Yazidi refugees in northern Iraq a success,
noting that at least 100,000 residents who fled the Islamic State’s
capture of Sinjar now crowd cities and refugee camps and will need
humanitarian assistance for months to come.

There are tons of farmers in the US. Plenty of crops. Humanitarian aid
is not expensive, it can help American farmers, it can do so much to
help people in need.

I'm confused as to why humanitarian aid workers are complaining? What do they want that hasn't happened?

Did they want boots on the grounds -- US troops? Do they still?

Did they want an open-ended, undefined mission?

If so, they're not really humanitarian aid workers.

Bully Boy Bush started an illegal war. That hangs around his neck forever.

But he had a tiny window of opportunity where he could have made his
image just a little better. If he'd pulled US troops out of Iraq early
on in 2003, his image might not be in tatters now.

There's a vanity when it comes to leaders, it tells them that, "Sure,
every one else has screwed up and destroyed their own legacies but I'm
different, I'm special, I'm smart and can pull this off."

Sadly, that's rarely the case.

This was a good moment for the US. Image wise, it was a good moment.

Good p.r. even.

Along with hubris, there's also the addiction to applause -- which
Barack clearly suffers from. That addiction can allow you to repeat,
can have you singing the same once loved song over and over for the next
30 years.

So in addition to believing that he can 'take on' Iraq, Barack could
also fall into the trap of thinking Iraq's the way for easy bursts of
applause.

Either or both could lead the growing US presence in Iraq to increase even further.

Barack should take the win, continue humanitarian aid, continue diplomatic relations but not pursue military solutions in Iraq.

The temptation is there. To show it can be done 'right' is very
tempting and why leaders and officials in Australia, France and England
this week and last have been making comments about how they should be
involved in the current actions or how they would be more involved than
the US government is.

Everyone wants to be smarter than Bully Boy Bush.

When it comes to resorting to war, so many lose their intelligence even faster than they lose their reputations.

Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times) observes:Last week, when Obama first announced that he had ordered military
action against the Islamists, his language was all about limits. These
were "targeted airstrikes," he said, with carefully limited goals:
protecting American personnel in Kurdistan and rescuing terrified
displaced Iraqis on Mt. Sinjar.But it didn't take long for the
mission to grow. By the weekend, Obama was already talking about "a
broader strategy in Iraq," one that would help a new, improved
government in Baghdad repel the fighters of the Islamic State entirely."We
will continue to provide military assistance and advice to the Iraqi
government and Kurdish forces as they battle these terrorists, so that
the terrorists cannot establish a permanent safe haven," he said, and
added, "This is going to be a long-term project."

Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, told reporters on Wednesday
that the U.S. is considering sending ground troops into Iraq to help
the humanitarian mission to rescue the Yazidis. Military advisers will
give their recommendations on the use of troops to the White House in
the next few days, following an assessment from about 130 Marines and special-operations forces now in Iraq.
The distinction here is that these would not be combat
troops, as much as ground forces with the specific mission of helping
rescue Yazidi refugees. Ground combat with ISIS would not be part of the
plan. Whether the humanitarian troops would be forced into combat
scenarios is another question entirely, and Rhodes admitted that best
laid plans don't always work out. "There are dangers involved in any
military operation," Rhodes said.

I don't buy the idea of Barack The Original Innocent. Nor do I buy the
ludicrous fantasies of some embarrassments on the left (the news
dumpster, for example) that Barack would do this or that if he wasn't
being controlled by unknown and hidden elements of the government.

Good or bad, they are his actions and he's responsible for them.

He went beyond air drops and he got lucky.

Luck does run out.

It certainly ran out for Nouri al-Maliki.

The chief thug and prime minister of Iraq thought he'd had a third term.
He thought that in the lead up to the April 30th elections, he thought
that after. His co-conspirators like 'reporter' Jane Arraf did their
part to promote that lie. He never won the required amount of seats.

He barely increased his showing from 2010 and that might not have
happened if other blocs, seeing a pattern of small blocs benefiting in
the 2010 parliamentary elections, hadn't decided to run as part of
smaller slates this go round.

He was not a done deal but damned if his liars didn't tell you he was getting a third term.

A lot of lies from a lot of places. Patrick Cockburn bias against
Sunnis is well known which is why it was shocking to see Glen Ford
citing him favorably in this week's column.

To repeat, Arabic social media documented Cockburn's bias. We didn't.
We picked up on it and amplified it for those who read English but not
Arabic. His bias is now so widely known that it's noted in Arabic
newspapers.

AMYGOODMAN:
The situation of what’s happening now in Baghdad with the new prime
minister, the current prime minister, and what this all means, who will
be the actual prime minister?

PATRICKCOCKBURN:
Well, I think, you know, that Maliki is finished. I think he’s been
finished for some time. The question was: Would he fight it out? He had
military units that were personally loyal to him, but he found that
after the new prime minister had been appointed, the Iranians had turned
against him. They wouldn’t support him. He didn’t have any outside
political support. His own party was disintegrating or would no longer
support him. So I think that the transition will happen.

But I think what is wrong is to think
that—almost everything now is being blamed on al-Maliki, both inside and
outside Baghdad, that he was the person who provoked the Sunni
uprising, he was the hate figure for the Sunni, he produced an army that
was riddled with corruption. But I think that it’s exaggerated, that
it’s as if there was a magic wand that would be used once al-Maliki had
gone. But there were other reasons for this uprising, for the creation
of ISIS—notably, the rebellion in Syria in 2011. This changed the
regional balance of power. That was a Sunni rebellion, which Iraqi
politicians over the last couple of years were always telling me, if the
West supports the opposition in Syria, this will destabilize Iraq. And
they were dead right. It wasn’t just al-Maliki.

NERMEENSHAIKH:
Patrick Cockburn, you mentioned that the current Iraqi prime minister,
Nouri al-Maliki, is obviously not solely responsible for the situation
there now. You’ve also pointed out in a piece that he still retains the
support of Iraq’s Shia majority. What do you think the consequences of
that will be with this shift in power to Abadi?

PATRICKCOCKBURN:
I think he did have that support. I don’t think it’s going to last very
long, because he had it because he had portrayed himself as the Shia
leader who protected their interests, and he tried to get away from the
fact he had presided over one of the greatest military defeats in
history, when ISIS took Mosul, by claiming
that he’d been stabbed—the army had been stabbed in the back by the
Kurds, that there had been treachery. But he still had support because
he had power, because he controlled the budget, $100 billion, because he
controlled millions of jobs. I think once he’s no longer in control of
the executive and the money, that support will diminish very fast. There
are millions of Iraqis who have their jobs through Maliki. Now that’s
changed, and so will their support.

First off, there is no "new prime minister." Please get your damn facts right.

For the first time ever, the Constitution (Iraqi Constitution) may be
followed and enforced. al-Abadi is the prime minister-designate. He
has a task to complete, a pilgrimage to make. He must form a Cabinet --
that's nominate for each post and have Parliament vote each one in* and
do so in 30 days from his being named prime minister-designate (he was
named that Monday). If not, there will be a new prime
minister-designate named by the president of Iraq.

(*If, for example, he nominated Amy Goodman to be Minister of
Misinformation and CIA Liason and the Parliament said no, provided the
30 days were up, he could nominate someone -- or many someones -- for
the post and have Parliament vote.)

As for Patrick Cockburn's ridiculous lies, I'd probably say them too if I
had rotten egg all over my face, if I'd whored for Nouri like Patrick
did over and over.

Nouri's not to blame for everything!

What's even funnier than Patrick's sexual obsession with Nouri -- which
leads him to 'magic wands' -- is that part of Nouri's failure -- which
whorish Paddy won't note -- is due to magic wands.

Remember those? The idiot and crook who sold those around the world is
in prison for that. They supposedly were bomb detectors (and golf bomb
finders!). You held the magic wand and basically jogged in place and it
dipped or not depending on whether a car had a bomb or not.

They do not work. It was established in court.

Yet as of this month, Nouri was still making the forces use them in Iraq.

He couldn't fix the infrastructure or provide potable water but he did
provide magical wands. And his decision to keep using them over a year
after the UK verdict means he can't win in a lawsuit. That money is now
lost. When a huckster sells you something and a court finds his
actions were illegal, you immediately file charges and stop using the
product. If you continue using it, you're not going to have any legal
standing and Nouri destroyed Iraq's legal standing. The government's
legal standing. An Iraqi family who lost a loved one due to those magic
wands being used at checkpoints would have standing to sue the
maker/distributor as well as the Iraqi government -- and Nouri himself
once he's out of office. Remember suing Nouri, we're coming back to
that topic.

If you're not getting how whorish and dishonest Patrick Cockburn is, look at this statement closely:

I think he did have that support. I don’t think it’s going to last very
long, because he had it because he had portrayed himself as the Shia
leader who protected their interests, and he tried to get away from the
fact he had presided over one of the greatest military defeats in
history, when ISIS took Mosul, by claiming
that he’d been stabbed—the army had been stabbed in the back by the
Kurds, that there had been treachery.

Is that what he did, Patrick?

Hmm. That's a sanitized version of
what he did. He didn't claim the military was stabbed in the back or
treachery, he took to the airwaves and accused of harboring terrorists
and of terrorist actions, inciting them.

This is why Kurds walked out of the Cabinet. And this isn't 'ancient' history, this took place just weeks ago.

Despite Maliki throwing the last serious U.S. reconciliation plan under
the bus, America stood by and watched the Iranians broker a deal after
the 2010 elections that gave Maliki another four years as prime
minister. American eyes were on the exit, and Maliki was the devil we
knew — a quick fix to declare enough democracy in Iraq so we could get
out.

It takes a whore, Peter proves it takes a whore, in fact, it takes a bordello to keep the lies alive.

Iran did not "broker a deal after the 2010 elections that gave Maliki another four years as prime minister."

Wrong.

The US government brokered The Erbil Agreement. Peter was low level,
yes, but he also knows how to read -- or I thought he did -- and should
have caught up on reality a long damn time ago.

For over eight months the political stalemate continued in Iraq after
the March 2010 parliamentary elections. In October of 2010, the Iranian
officials did their backing of Nouri.

Nouri didn't become prime minister then* -- he became it in November,
the day after all the political leaders signed off on the US-brokered
Erbil Agreement.

The US gave Nouri his second term via The Erbil Agreement.

Stop trying to pin everything on the Iranians. I'm so sick of people
who will go to such lengths to erase their own government's actions and
rush to blame them on another country.

I'm also sick of people who don't know how to say "I was wrong."

I've said it many times. I've said it many times here.

I said I was wrong when I disagreed with Justin Raimondo about an issue
then-Bradley Manning's attorney was raising. When I am wrong, I'm okay
admitting it.

I expect to be wrong more than I'm right.

That's not false modesty (it may be low self-esteem).

Justin seems to struggle with the words "I was wrong."

What happens when that's the case? When you're wrong and events prove you wrong, what happens if you can't say you're wrong?

Some just act like it never happened and re-adjust their stance or remain silent.

But Justin appears to belong to the group that digs their heels in, lies -- flat out lies, and tells you night is day.

I saw the headline and thought we might disagree but it would still be a column worth highlighting.

Wrong. He molests the facts. That's the only term for it.

He's flat out lying, cherry picking bits and pieces of broken facts to try to pretend he was right.

We get it, Justin. You hate Jesus and you hate any religion that's
linked to it even if it's just remotely linked to Jesus. (And, of
course, Justin hates the Jews as well.)

We get it.

Every day, you are so damn scared that you might be wrong, that there
might be a god of some kind, that you have to rip apart anyone who
believes. We get it.

I practice no religion.

That's on me.

I don't ridicule people who do.

I don't have to.

I'm secure in my beliefs. I don't need to attack people who practice religion or to hate or dislike them.

So many disappointments.

Okay, let's go lawsuit.

Jim Michaels (USA Today) reports, "Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced Thursday night
that he is stepping down, ending a political crisis at a time when
Islamist militants have seized large swaths of the country and remain on
the offensive."

What happened?

Nouri's a criminal.

While Patrick Cockburn's still going down on Nouri, others aren't.

And Nouri's big problem was solved this evening when he received a series of promises that he wouldn't be prosecuted or sued.

See, Nouri has a list of people he plans to get even with. And he was
hoping two of those MPs wouldn't be re-elected. One wasn't. And a
third term for Nouri was going to include persecuting and prosecuting
that (now former) MP.

But Nouri realized something similar could happen to him.

He's already set a precedent where MPs can be tried. It's illegal but he's done it.

Per the Constitution, no one serving in the Parliament can be sued while
serving. The Parliament can vote to strip the person of their office
and then they can stand trial. Otherwise, you're supposed to wait until
they're out of office.

Nouri was afraid of what might befall him. As an MP but former prime
minister, could he be sued? Or would the new government ignore the
Constitution the same way Nouri did?

In a series of talks, Nouri made clear this was his biggest obstacle to
surrendering the office. It was a minor part of a written list he'd
agreed to last week when he agreed to not seek a third term. However,
as Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc noted, Nouri then broke that agreement.

So with a lot of hand holding and promises, Nouri finally agreed to step down.

Does everything become perfect now?

No, it does not.

But when someone is named prime minister, Iraq will collectively hold its breath to see if they have another Nouri or not.

Another Nouri means intensified fighting across the country.

A leader who is inclusive and speaks to the Iraqi identity that voters
embraced in the 2009, 2010 and 2013 elections could help pull support
from the more extremist elements in the country.

US Secretary of State John Kerry issued the following statement today:

Press Statement

John Kerry

Washington, DC

August 14, 2014

We
commend the important and honorable decision by Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki to support Prime Minister-designate Haider Al-Abadi in his
efforts to form a new government and develop a national program in line
with Iraq’s constitutional timeline. This milestone decision sets the
stage for a historic and peaceful transition of power in Iraq.We urge Mr. Abadi and all Iraqi leaders to move expeditiously to
complete this process, which is essential to pulling the country
together and consolidating the efforts of Iraq’s many diverse
communities against the common threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant.Consistent with our Strategic Framework Agreement, the United States
stands ready to partner with a new and inclusive government to counter
this threat, and we will encourage other countries in the region and
international community to do the same.

And that's where we're going to leave it. The stuff about Nouri's fears
on prosecution comes from 1 White House friend and three State Dept
friends. There's more that's not being discussed and we may go into
that in Friday's snapshot.

The U.S. corporate media were more interested in the rest of
al-Baghdadi’s message, in which he warned Washington that “soon enough,
you will be in direct confrontation – forced to do so, God willing. And
the sons of Islam have prepared themselves for this day. So wait, and we
will be waiting, too.” For most self-obsessed Americans, this was
received as a threat to attack “the Homeland.” However, downtown
Manhattan is not on the Caliphate leader’s map. Al-Baghdadi meant that
the American strategy of financing Muslim muppets to fight imperialism’s
wars is kaput, and that the Pentagon will soon have to do its own dirty
work, dressed in “Crusader” uniform.
Accordingly, the U.S. is sending additional hundreds of “non-combat”
troops to northern Iraq – as if Marines and Special Forces are anything
but combat soldiers – to join the 1,000 or so American military and
“security” personnel already there, by official count. Contrary to what
many Americans on the Left believe, U.S. planners are not itching to
send large American units to Arab lands (the Kurds are not Arabs), since
their presence is counter-productive in the extreme. The problem is,
the Pentagon’s proxies are evaporating, in flight, or – in the case of
Arab Iraq – growing even more dependent on Iran and (who would have
predicted it?) Russia, which is assisting in reconstituting the Iraqi
air force.Some leftists in the U.S. even imagine that Washington has achieved some
kind of victory with the imminent departure of Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, the veteran American stooge. But, Maliki’s ouster was also
backed by Iran, Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (who
mobilized millions demanding an end to the U.S. occupation), Muqtada
al-Sadr (whose militia fought two wars against the occupation), and even
much of Maliki’s own Dawa Party. Only the Kurds remain in Washington’s
(and Israel’s) pocket – and this matter of convenience, too, may pass as
the neighborhood changes all around Kurdistan.

There's more to the piece than just that.

But on that?

Sorry, Glen, if Barack hadn't pulled US support, the world would not be attempting to rush Nouri off the stage.

That is the power of the United States -- it's frequently misused by presidents, but it can also accomplish good.

And Nouri going is good.

Is Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani responsible? Absolutely. As is
Moqtada and many leaders and officials not mentioned -- a list which
would include KRG President Massoud Barzani, ISCI leader Ammar al-Hakim
(who surprised many US participants by not attempting to seek the post
himself despite working very hard to ease Nouri out), and Ayad Allawi
among others.

But most of all this came about because of the Iraqi people -- Sunni, Shia, Kurd and other.

In the midst of the Arab Spring or 'Arab Spring,' Iraqis took to the
streets and protested in large numbers. They were largely ignored by
the world. The same was true from December 2012 through January of
2013. That time, they protested non-stop and turned out every week.

They showed up to protest despite threats, despite torture --

In fact, let's stop there.

You didn't have to peacefully participated in protesting for Nouri to
sick his goons on you. Hadi al-Mahdi was rounded up for reporting on
the protests. Falling back to the September 8, 2011 snapshot:

In Iraq, a journalist has been murdered. In addition
to being a journalist, he was also a leader of change and part of the
movement to create an Iraq that was responsive to Iraqis.

Al Mada reports
Iraqi journalist Hadi al-Mahdi is dead according to an Interior
Ministry source who says police discovered him murdered in his Baghdad
home. Along with being a journalist, Al Mada notes he was one of the
chief organizers of the demonstrations demanding change and service
reform that began on February 25th -- the day he was arrested by Iraqi
security forces and beaten in broad daylight as he and others, after the
February 25th protest, were eating in a restaurant. The New York Times didn't want to tell you about, the Washington Post
did. And now the man is dead. Gee, which paper has the archives that
matter to any real degree. Maybe it's time to act like a newspaper and
not a "news magazine" with pithy little human interest stories? (That
is not a dig at Tim Arango but at the paper's diva male 'reporter' who
went on NPR to talk of an Iraqi collegue this week.) So while the Times
missed the story (actaully, they misled on the story -- cowtowing to
Nouri as usual), Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) reported:

Four
journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after
they had left a protest at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. They said they were
handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by
soldiers from an army intelligence unit. "It
was like they were dealing with a bunch of al-Qaeda operatives, not a
group of journalists," said Hussam al-Ssairi, a journalist and poet, who
was among a group and described seeing hundreds of protesters in black
hoods at the detention facility. "Yesterday was like a test, like a
picture of the new democracy in Iraq."

That day's snapshot? That's the day Haidi was murdered. Like so many
other journalists killed in Nouri's Iraq, the killer was never found --
mainly because no one ever made a point to look for a killer to begin
with.

Did Black Agenda Report cover his murder?

No.

No, they did not.

They didn't cover the hunting of Iraq's LGBTQ community. Nouri's
'acting' Minister of the Interior helped with that on Nouri's orders.
Young men and boys who were gay or wrongly thought to be gay were
targeted. Death didn't come easy to those killed. To cite two popular
examples for ways to murder, some were beaten to pulp with bricks, some
had their anuses super glued. This was barbaric not just in that
innocents were being killed -- being gay is as normal as being straight
-- but in the way they were being killed -- slowly and painfully in an
effort to inflict the most pain possible.

Does Glen want to explain why that was?

Better yet, can he?

Nouri's flunkies went into high schools and middle schools handing out
pamphlets about how awful these people were -- they had same-sex sex,
they were vampires, they were this, they were that. (Of course Nouri
and his flunkies denied it -- but both Al Mada and Alsumaria got ahold
of the handouts the Ministry of Interior was distributing to children.)

What Nouri's gotten away with? War Crimes.

Has Black Agenda Report objected even once to the bombing of
Falluja's residential neighborhoods? We all know that collective
punishment is a legally defined War Crime. But since the start of this
year, Nouri has daily attacked and left wounded and dead numerous
civilians whose only 'crime' was to live in Falluja.

I like Glen and think he's an important voice.

I also he's a very sad person if he can't, for even one moment, think of the Iraqi people.

Reuters notes
Pope Francis wrote a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon today which stated, among other things, "I write to you, Mr.
Secretary General, and place before you the
tears, the suffering and the heartfelt cries of despair of Christians
and other religious minorities of the beloved land of Iraq."

Nouri is a thug and they had to endure 8 years of him.

US President Barack Obama pulled the US government's support.

I wish Barack had done that in 2010 -- when Nouri lost the election --
but I don't for one moment think doing it now didn't make a difference.

I also have no problem praising Barack for taking that step.

If he used the rest of his final term to do similar things, I'd praise him for that as well.

Will he?

I wouldn't bet on it.

I support the air drops of food, water, etc for the Yazidis trapped on
Mount Sinjar. They are victims and relief missions are something every
nation could do and take part in.

Barack's taken that beyond air drops. And today the Defense Dept issued the following:

Release No: NR-427-14August 13, 2014

Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby

As part of the ongoing humanitarian efforts ordered by President Obama,
today a team of U.S. military personnel, accompanied by USAID,
conductedan assessment of the situation on Mt. Sinjar and the impact of
U.S. military actions to date. The team, which consisted of less than
twenty personnel, did not engage in combat operations and all personnel
have returned safely to Irbil by military air. The team has assessed
that there are far fewer Yazidis on Mt. Sinjar than previously feared,
in part because of the success of humanitarian air drops, air strikes on
ISIL targets, the efforts of the Peshmerga and the ability of thousands
of Yazidis to evacuate from the mountain each night over the last
several days. The Yazidis who remain are in better condition than
previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water
that we have dropped. Based on this assessment the interagency has
determined that an evacuation mission is far less likely. Additionally,
we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance as needed and will
protect U.S. personnel and facilities.

Rubin walked away with painful injuries (broken wrists are painful),
Yazidi MP Vian Dakhil was injured, the pilot died and a few more
passengers who haven't been named yet were left injured. The pilot
hasn't been named either.

We noted this Tweet last week from the Financial Times' Borzou Daragahi:

I don't support fly over bombings -- nor do I believe for one minute
that the bombs being dropped from the air means the US is not in
'combat' in Iraq.

I do not support more US troops going into Iraq (or any being there
other than to guard US embassy staff -- which Marines do around the
world). All Iraq News notes, "About 130 American military advisers have arrived in Iraq
to help with its humanitarian aid in north area of the country, U.S.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a press statement." The number of
US troops in Iraq keeps increasing. That's not a good thing to those
of us opposed to war.

QUESTION: Okay. And conversely, you deployed – or the United States deployed some 130 --MS. HARF: Uh-huh.QUESTION: -- advisors and so on to Erbil. Does that mean that
the situation in Baghdad or around Baghdad is quiet enough where you
don’t need this kind of advisory effort?MS. HARF: Well, let’s be clear about what these 130 advisors
will and will not be doing. They are focused squarely on looking at the
humanitarian situation on Mount Sinjar and developing options to
potentially move people and relocate people safely from the mountain. As
we know, dropping food and water is not a long-term solution for the
tens of thousands of people on that mountain. So these U.S. military
personnel that have just gone in are assessing the best way to bring
these people to safety, whether that’s some sort of airlift, whether
that’s a humanitarian corridor. They’re looking at the options, they’ll
present them to the President, and then he’ll make decisions about how –
the best way that we can help do that will be.QUESTION: And I know yesterday that you denied that there was
any kind of pressure on Maliki to leave August from early June or
mid-June right after the fall of Mosul. So no one has talked to him at
that time, “It’s time for you to leave?”MS. HARF: What we’ve always said, Said, is that there is a
constitutional process and that process needs to move forward. There are
very clear rules under that process for how a new prime minister for a
new government is designated. We have encouraged everyone to play by
those rules, period. And that’s the message that we’ve been sending for a
very long time.

Former Governor of New Mexico and 2012 Libertarian Party Presidential nominee Gary Johnson Tweeted the following today:

QUESTION: In Iraq, please. Today Prime Minister al-Maliki said
he would not step down from his post until the Iraqi judiciary rules on
whether or not his constitutional challenge to the process should go
forward or not. I’m wondering if you all have any idea of how long this
process might take as it speaks to some concerns people have raised
about whether he will try to run out the clock on the 30 days he now –
that designate al-Abadi has.Also I’m wondering if you were able to get an answer to my question
yesterday as to what level of confidence does the U.S. have in the Iraqi
judiciary system.MS. HARF: A couple issues, and then we’ll – I’m sure you’ll
have follow-ups. The comments made by the prime minister today were
similar to ones he’s made in recent days, quite frankly. And as I said
yesterday, with all political systems there will be differences with how
certain processes unfold. We never expected this to be completely
seamless, but the United States firmly rejects any effort to achieve
outcomes through coercion or manipulation of the constitutional or
judicial processes.And then look, I don’t want to get ahead of the constitutional
process that’s underway. We just began the 30-day time clock for the
Prime Minister-designate al-Abadi to form a new government. They are
moving along with that process. So we will watch day by day as that
plays out, but Prime Minister-designate al-Abadi is moving forward as
part of this process, and that’s what we’ll be focused on in the coming
days.QUESTION: So you don’t believe this court challenge that Maliki is posing is going to be slowing that 30-day clock in any way?MS. HARF: Well, look, the prime minister-designate is the one
who is in charge of what happens during the 30-day clock, and he’s
working actively towards that. And again, we would reject any efforts by
anyone to use the judicial processes to manipulate or coerce the
outcomes here. But there is a separate process and it’s the
constitutional one, and that’s moving forward.QUESTION: How is it that the designate has control of the clock when Maliki is still the prime minister?MS. HARF: Well, he has control of the clock. What I meant was
the progress that can be made in the 30 days to form a new government is
in the hands of the prime minister-designate, who has the support, as I
said over the last few days. He was nominated by the Shiite bloc,
including many members of Prime Minister Maliki’s own party.So we’ve seen these kind of comments from the current prime minister
before, but separate from those comments there is a process under the
constitution that is moving forward. And we expect that to move forward
and we will continue watching what happens in the coming days.QUESTION: Do you have any expectations of how long this court appeal will last?MS. HARF: I don’t have any guess on that.QUESTION: May I just follow up on that? I mean, his words were
very critical of the United States, today – Maliki’s speech. He
basically said that you espouse democratic values but you go ahead and
sabotage the democratic process. What do you have to say to that?MS. HARF: Well, the Iraqis have their democratic process
that’s underway right now, and that process has led to a new prime
minister-designate being named by the current prime minister’s own bloc.
So the process is playing out how it should. Again, we knew this would
not be without complication. Nothing ever is – certainly not here in
Iraqi politics. But their own democratically, constitutionally outlined
process has been ongoing and that’s what’s happening right now.QUESTION: I know that you warned against manipulating whatever
legal process in the courts or whatever to sow divisions and so on in
Iraq. Has anyone talked to the prime minister personally to say refrain
from doing that because you’re driving the country further into the
abyss?MS. HARF: We’ve certainly had conversations with a range of
leaders, including Prime Minister Maliki, emphasizing, Said, that this
is a key, critical time in Iraq on the security front, on the political
front – they are very closely intertwined – and that nobody should do
anything to prevent the progress that’s laid out under the constitution
from taking place and from moving forward. Nobody should.QUESTION: Mm-hmm.MS. HARF: We’ve certainly had those conversations.QUESTION: Okay. Now, as we – Iran, Saudi
Arabia, Turkey, they all welcome the prime minister-designate Haider
Al-Abadi, but Maliki still has some support within the Shiites. He has
some support within some, like, militant type of militias and so on. Are
you concerned that he actually might resort to violence?MS. HARF: I don’t want to venture to guess on that
hypothetical, Said. There’s a process in place and that process is
moving forward. What’s key here is that the President asked the prime
minister-designate to name a government. This was the designate that his
own bloc, Prime Minister Maliki’s own bloc selected. So I think that
should speak very clearly about the support that Prime
Minister-designate al-Abadi has. And, again, the process is moving
forward.

It would be something wonderful if we could see people rejecting an urge
to insult the dead. (I am not attacking women who engage in sex work.
I am noting that prostitute is a huge pejorative in Iraq and dead women
who can't defend themselves shouldn't have prostitute tied around their
dead necks solely because a group of men -- who killed them -- have
labeled them whores.)

I'm not interested in running down violence. Monday night, I noted a
death and offered Tuesday might be the last snapshot. The friend I
dictated it too wisely pulled that. But a friend died this week and it
really makes me question the point of online life.

Statement by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on the Passing of Robin Williams

The entire Department of Defense community mourns the loss of Robin
Williams. Robin was a gifted actor and comedian, but he was also a true
friend and supporter of our troops. From entertaining thousands of
service men and women in war zones, to his philanthropy that helped
veterans struggling with hidden wounds of war, he was a loyal and
compassionate advocate for all who serve this nation in uniform. He will
be dearly missed by the men and women of DoD - so many of whom were
personally touched by his humor and generosity.

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About Me

I'm Michael, Mike to my friends. College student working his way through. I'm also Irish-American and The New York Times can kiss my Irish ass. And check out Trina's Kitchen on my links, that's my mother's site.